A display apparatus having a liquid crystal panel as a display panel for displaying images includes a backlight that emits light toward a rear surface of the liquid crystal panel. The display apparatus is configured to modulate and transmit the light emitted from the backlight with the aid of the liquid crystal panel so that an image is displayed on a front surface of the liquid crystal panel. The backlight is broadly classified into a direct type backlight and an edge type backlight. However, in recent years, an edge type backlight is widely used from the perspective of reduction in power consumption and achievement of a low profile of the display apparatus.
An edge type backlight includes a light guide plate and a light source accommodated in a backlight chassis (housing) having a shallow box form. The light guide plate is a flat plate formed of a resin material having a light transmitting property. The light source is provided on one side wall of the backlight chassis so as to face one side surface of the light guide plate, and light emitted from the light source is incident on one side surface of the light guide plate to travel through the inside of the light guide plate and is output so as to be distributed to the entire surface of one wide surface of the light guide plate exposed to outside of the backlight chassis through an opening of the backlight chassis.
The display apparatus is configured so that one wide surface of the light guide plate faces a rear surface of the liquid crystal panel and an optical sheet is interposed between the two facing surfaces. The optical sheet is an optical element that performs a function of diffusing and focusing light, and the light output from the light guide plate is irradiated to the liquid crystal panel by becoming uniform when the light passes through the optical sheet.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2007-232809 discloses a display apparatus (a display module) in which a light guide plate and a liquid crystal panel are coupled. The light guide plate and the liquid crystal panel are coupled in such a way that the light guide plate and the liquid crystal panel face each other with a void interposed therebetween, the void formed by a spacer interposed in the peripheral portions thereof, an optical sheet is disposed in the void, and an adhesive applied to surround the spacer is cured.
In this display apparatus, the light guide plate, the liquid crystal panel, and the optical sheet are handled as an integrated component, and the integrated component can be sandwiched between a backlight chassis and a bezel (a frame) that covers a peripheral portion of a front surface of the liquid crystal panel. In this way, it is possible to simplify the structure by reducing the number of components and to reduce the thickness of the device.